


Jalton Origin Story- There is no place like home, just ask Harry Potter

by Missjsmac94



Category: The Brave (TV 2017)
Genre: Adam and Jaz, Character death (canon pre series death), Comforting, F/M, Jalton, Mild Language, My First AO3 Post, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pre-Canon, Sweet, The team is her family, The team is her home., semi already together
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-11-21
Packaged: 2020-01-20 16:38:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18528964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missjsmac94/pseuds/Missjsmac94
Summary: They are about to go on leave. Jaz isn't going home though, the guys tease her about being just like Harry Potter. They have another movie night and it causes memories of past movie nights to come up as she reflects on the way her relationship has evolved with Top, and continues to. Top finally divulges what Elijah had told him not long after their last movie night with him.





	1. Movie night with her guys

**Author's Note:**

> First, this is my first fanfiction I am sharing and I only write for myself to write. I truly love these characters and those of other fandoms but I am not a gifted writer. I struggle very badly with grammar so if you see any mistakes, please let me know. Also there isn't much dialogue, I'm just not very good at writing it.  
> Thank you to all of the wonderful amazing fanfiction writers who keep us going with their The Brave ff. You are why I decided to share this one and hopefully others soon.  
> If you comment, please be respectful. Giving feedback can be positive or negative, as criticism can be helpful, productive or destructive. Make the choice that is respectful to the people who use and run this website so that we may all enjoy it.  
> I hope you like this story! I'm not going to ask for you to review, that is up to you. I would like to hear what you think though. That being said, I will be monitoring any comments.

Chapter 1  
They are about to go on leave but she isn’t going home. The guys, her guys, tease her that she is like Harry Potter. They had watched the movies last night. They made a drinking game out of it and she thinks that is how she ended up cuddled up in between two beautiful half naked men. She is kind of used to this, or was and it makes her think of her semi early days on the team. When she was finally more comfortable with the team and they had their first movie night after a mission. This, is her home. They are her home.

2 almost, 3 years ago.  
They got back from a mission that almost took out half their team. Captain Adam Dalton is pissed. More than pissed and his team knows it. They are the final option and when they almost get killed trying to rescue or keep someone safe and being reckless, it pisses him off.

He is pacing outside with his long time friend, a father figure to the whole team with all his ‘preach isms’, Ezekiel ‘Preach’ Carter who is talking to his wife to let her know he is back on base and safe. Preach is sitting on the picnic bench. The other 3 members of his team are inside and as he paces back in front of the front door he sees Elijah Vallins, team goof off and bomb-disposal expert, step out looking a little defeated, as well as a smile on his face.

“Did you get kicked out? Everything okay?” The Captain asks, looking a little concern that Vallins was out here and not inside easing the mind of their team’s sniper. The Sniper is the newest on the team and is the only female. Both are a big adjustment for the entire team. Both having a new teammate and having a female on said team. Especially one that doesn’t have the greatest trust in other people. She is a great sniper, all of her previous COs say she is great in the field. She just has a hard time relinquishing control. 

Right now, their team medic, Sgt. Joseph ‘McG’ McGuire, is inside with their sniper, trying to put the reckless female back together. She had done her job and rescued the victims as well as the mission but put herself and her team at risk, something that is not acceptable when she was given a direct order. So, now here they are, Vallins has a few scrapes and bumps, Preach has a bruise on his arm but nothing serious. He hasn’t seen McG up close enough to know if he has more serious injuries than the rest but he knows She does.

Sgt. Jasmine ‘Jaz’ Khan is the newest person on the team and for McG, the worst patient on the team, including Dalton. Currently he is standing off with the slightly younger woman who is badly injured but not enough to go to medical.

McG worked methodically on Jaz’s injuries best he could right after they happened and managed to get her medicated a little. Now she is more aware especially of being half naked in front of one of the very beautiful, almost always half naked whilst not on a mission, men on her team. Yeah, she is definitely still getting used to that. She’s been in the Army a couple of years before now, she’s been on two other special forces teams before her last team and she’s been here a couple months. She just needs to get used to this particular group of handsome men.

She has settled in with two of the four men pretty seemly and she is working on it with her third, McG. Mostly, because he is very adamant on getting her comfortable with being looked after by him. It helps that she is usually on over-watch with Preach or undercover with Elijah, who makes her laugh and relax. She likes how comforting McG is, as well as how much of a player he is.

She’s barely been on this team a couple months and she is barely holding in her schoolgirl crush on her captain, which she is in denial she has, until today.

Today, she was paired up with the Captain. They went undercover as a couple for the first time and kiss as a distraction so the rest of the team could do the rescue. It was suppose to be a simple extraction and got a hell of a lot more complicated from there.

She must have been daydreaming through the rest of her medical care because McG is now in her face with Dalton not far behind her looking mad, yet concern and something else that she isn't sure about.

She smiles at them both in confusion, her medication must be getting to her. Dalton has a t-shirt in hand and McG has a DVD case in hand. She thinks its cute, McG tells her as soon as she is changed they are having a movie night. She nods and allows McG to help her redress in the shirt and shorts she thinks Dalton went into her laundry basket and got out for her. She is no stranger to no privacy, being in the army on elite teams but she doesn’t know this team all that well and all she can think about at this second, with Dalton right in front of her is his lips. His body pressing hers into the brick wall that they had been leaning against. She kind of wants to feel it again and isn’t exactly sure if its from the day they’ve had or not getting laid since joining the team. They try to give her as much privacy as they can as they help her to get changed.

She curls up on the couch and gets comfortable, she wants this experience to be different than with other teams. She wants to be more involved than only in training or on missions like she was on her other teams. Its her first movie night since boot camp.  
Several hours later, she awakens to the warm sensation of being cuddled between two beautiful men. While a third hovers over her. She smiles dazedly at him and realizes its her Captain. Her CO is standing over her with McG behind her, his head burrowed into her back, his nose in the bottom of the messy bun she had put her hair in before the movie. Elijah is in front of her, her legs are over his and she is practically in his lap with her head lifted only inches from his chest so she can look at her Captain.  
She is groggy and can feel her meds letting up a little but not enough that her head is anymore clear. When Adam offers to take her to her room, only a small part protests, the rest of her makes her untangle herself from the guys on the couch and allow someone to care for her. He takes her to her bunk which is still the barest of all the sleeping areas. She has only been on the team a couple months and they haven’t had many touristic chances. Adam thinks he needs to right that situation, since they are going to be having a weekend to let Jaz heal.

They don’t speak of any of it the next morning, and really it doesn’t come up at all until the next time they have another mission where she is paired up with her captain because she sort of spaces out for a second thinking about everything that happened the last time. The team has gotten a lot closer and Jaz has gotten a lot more comfortable with McG. They have a very sibling like relationship now and joke around quite a bit. They have also gone out dancing and drinking together more than the rest of the team, being dragged along by Elijah but she loves every second of it.

When they have to pair up, Adam senses the hesitation and takes her aside to find out if she would be more comfortable with Elijah or McG. She tells him no, she’s okay with him and it will work better for the mission.

The mission goes off without a hitch and they are rewarded with a long weekend so that they can celebrate taking out such a horrible, violent criminal. Patricia tells them to have a round on her and they go to a local dance club/bar off base that has just opened up. They drink more than they usually would, at least everyone but Preach who is their designated driver. While Elijah is on the dance floor with Jaz and McG each of the guys get distracted, by pretty blondes. Adam is watching from a corner and Jaz decides she is going to take a break and get a drink. Before she can make it off the dance floor, a guy starts dancing in her way and tries to rub against her. 

She isn’t having it though, she pushes him away and subtly injures him by punching him in the ribs, hard enough to at least bruise them, before heading to the table they had gotten at the beginning of the night. To where Adam is sitting and has been watching her the whole night.


	2. Dance like your favorite Blond is watching.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Team gets a long weekend and what can they do but go dancing?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have this image in my head of an off screen character referencing Anger management, "I feel like dancing! Dancing!" That off screen character is Elijah Vallins and drags the team out to a club.  
> I deliberately used two variations of the word blonde.  
> Blonde is female, Blond is male and Blondes is plural; yes I looked it up it isn't used as much anymore but that is okay, I do.  
> Enjoy!

Chapter 2  
They sit in silence for a bit, Jaz thinks that its weird that Preach isn’t there but chops it up to the fact that he must be either in the bathroom or found a quiet spot to call his wife. They are watching McG and Elijah with their blondes, speaking very little about nothing and everything. As cliched as it seems to Jaz, its also nice.

It isn’t much longer before McG comes over and tells their Captain that he needs to get their sniper back on the dance floor, “You know, for undercover Top. This girl needs to know how to dance with all of us.”

They both know McG is right, there happens to also be a slow waltz-y song that just started up and Jaz thinks that Elijah, ever the goofball is the one that requested it so that he and McG can dance slowly with their counterparts. Adam looks at her and she can feel an arrhythmia start along with the butterflies in her stomach feeling. Adam stands next to McG with a grunting sigh and holds out his hand to her. She is hesitant to take it but does after she punches McG’s arm for insulting her dancing skills. She and Adam laugh until reaching the dance floor, its filled with couples and reminds Jaz of couple skates in old teen movies. The sappy ones Elijah and McG make her watch on movie nights.

They dance for a couple songs longer than they thought they would, a teammate comes over at the end of each song and tells them just one more so that they don’t have to deal with the flirty drunks all around them.

She finally gets tired enough from all the adrenaline that has been running through her the whole night and by the end, she is being held up by Adam while Elijah and McG are handled by one of the blondes, she thinks it must be Elijah’s blond because McG’s blonde was just dragged away by a group of women wearing sashes. She can’t tell what they say but thinks they must be some sort of bachelorette group of twenty-somethings and thinks she must remember to tease McG about it.

Elijah’s blond helps Preach to get everyone into their car so they can go home. They watch him go back over to the group and hug the girl in a sash and tiara, something she hadn’t noticed one wore before now and she blames it on the sweet alcohol in her system. Spacial awareness suffers when she lets so loose.

By the time they get back, Jaz and McG are both asleep but only Jaz gets the special treatment of not being woken up. Adam is too slow to take her to her room before Preach is right there leaving him to deal with whiny and drunk Elijah and McG.

Its another couple of weeks before they are able to have another movie night. She has been teamed up with everyone but her Captain and it kinda pisses her off a little because he is being extra cautious about being around her while on base as well.  
Dalton had sent her and McG to the store as they were running low on some of their trashy treats they always have on movie night. She wants to ask McG if he finds it weird that Adam didn’t go himself since he is fairly picky about his candy brands and popcorn packaging. McG blows it off as the captain being tired and letting go for once. When she brings up the fact that for the last couple of weeks, their captain has avoided her and therefore more than just him letting go of his obsessive need to dictate the type of candy they get, he tells her that she needs to be used to everyone on the team because she is their biggest asset, she can’t play favorites and neither can their captain. Although, he then teases her that He is definitely the favorite on the team and they argue all the way back jokingly.

Later, after dinner he takes her aside and asks her a serious question, if she is feeling uncomfortable with anyone on the team. Telling her its okay to tell him as he is the person to go to directly on the team if she has any concerns or she can talk to his friend if she rather talk to another female. She stops him before he can get to the end of his sentence and tells him she is okay, Elijah comes over seeming to have heard the tail end and tells McG she is just Mungry. They laugh and tease her for about a week because of it and everything seems to go back to normal. She isn’t sure if one of them talked to Dalton but he is no longer avoiding her.

They are getting ready for their first leave since Jaz has joined the team. They are sitting around a beautiful bonfire outside their hut talking about what they want to do first with their families. Preach wants to spend a whole bunch of time with his three little girls and his wife on their road trip to visit family in Iowa. Dalton speaks of seeing his sisters before heading up to his cabin to be in nature. McG, although very proud of the fact that he is a total mama’s boy, can’t wait to spend time with his old friends and some time on his ranch with nothing but cows and horses while his mama is at work. He tells Jaz and Elijah that they should come visit for a week or two so that they can go for a trail ride. He has already offered to host Preach and his family but they declined as they will be gone on the road to see family and want to spend as much time together as possible. He tells McG is he can convince his wife, he is sure his middle daughter would love it. Elijah talks about going back to Texas and not only seeing his family but his adoptive family filled with hot doctors and nurses.

Through their many talks while waiting missions out, the team has learned very little about Jaz’s past. One of the only things they know is that she doesn’t really have a family outside of their little team. Elijah doesn’t give her a choice really of where she is going to go on leave. He tells her that she is coming home with him to meet his friends, mostly so that she can get laid and stop being so abusive, for which she hits him.  
They spend their last night before leave doing a movie night. Only, something is different about this one. She thinks it could be paranoia making her think that way but they sit down to watch a movie she thought it was going to be a funny movie. They had settled on watching The Dukes of Hazard, or so she thought. They end up watching Tarzan and it makes her cry. She runs to her room so her team doesn’t see weakness and there is Dalton, she had thought that he was in the bathroom. No, he was there in her not as bare bunk, and on her bed.  
He is just sitting on her bed waiting for her like he knew what her reaction would be. He was definitely prepared for her to start scowling and yelling at him too because he silences her by putting up his hand before she can even get a syllable out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to update! The first chapter was 7 pages long in my word document and this one is only like 4 so I will do the next update on this chapter as I am working on it. I also have an idea for a one shot that I might just put into this story.  
> Thank you all for commenting and leaving kudos, it does mean a lot however I can only update as much as I can in my free time which is turning out to be maybe once a week. If anyone has ideas to add in I would love to try and put them into my story, I started this story on a whim and don't have a clue where its going exactly.


	3. What Happens in Texas, Makes Elijah Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team visits Mama McGuire and the Carters join in on the dude ranching fun. Jaz and Dalton get lost on a trail ride and it makes Elijah speak up in protection of the girl that has become his little sister.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! An update! Last Thursday I ended up having no classes so I updated Chapter 2, then got busy with family over the weekend and woke up early in pain. Pain is not fun for me but gives me the opportunity to write some more! If anyone has suggestions to add in, please! DO! I'm needing a little help I think with keeping this interesting and longer than 4 pages a chapter. Not sure how long this will be either. I haven't even reached the second deployment! Enjoy, especially my rambling.

Chapter 3  
Its almost time to be redeployed, and Jaz is so nervous that its all been some cruel joke or dream. They get together in Montana, on a dude ranch for military families ran by the local base McG’s mom lives closest to. They have fun together and use it as unofficial team building session. Getting to know each other in a fun and fairly relaxed way.  
She never really learned how to ride all that well. They taught a unit on it in her military training later on when she applied for Special Forces. It was the basics though.

Its not hard to see why both McG and Elijah love it as well as Dalton love it. Preach had managed to convince his wife that it would be something fun for their girls to do together and a special surprise for their little girl’s birthday. When Adam, Jaz, Elijah and McG take a taxi to a local bar to meet up with some of McG’s friends, Adam and Jaz stick together like they have been gorilla glued at the hip. McG isn’t sure why until Elijah tells him about what happened in Texas.

They had gone to a bar with Elijah’s hot doctor and nurse friends. He had explained to at least one of them that his new teammate is man hungry, on the verge of mamished. It had gotten around pretty quick, somehow, and she was set up with one of the male nurses, Kenny. Until she caught the eye of a stranger and had a panic attack. They actually had to take her to the hospital to make sure she was all the way okay because she also passed out and hit her head. They don’t tell Adam what happened because he would become even more overprotective and grunty than he already is. They are sure though, that Jaz must mention something because Adam gets a little more drunk than any of them had meant to get and they decide to go home early.

Jaz, according to Elijah, mellowed out a bit though after her hospital stay and going home with the doc she had been flirting with. She also ended up ditching him for some of the women he introduced her to and he thinks it might have been a bad idea but made her happy and loosen up a little with him and the rest of the team once they were back together.

They have a movie night with Preach and his family and instead of ending up between McG and Elijah, she wakes up to McG whisper-yelling with Adam about who got to put her to bed. McG argues that he is under her where Elijah usually is until he notices that Jaz is awake and smirking at him. She teases him about being jealous of her cuddling into someone other than him and it causes the guys to start making jokes that Mrs. Carter puts an end to very quickly with having three sleeping girls in the room and tells the men that the young woman can put herself to bed, being such a kick-ass sniper.

Jaz laughs but agrees and kisses the cheeks of each of her boys before going off to bed, smiling to herself over being fought over by her team. She justifies loving being cuddled by her CO as working on their relationship for undercover but knows it doesn’t change anything.

She has a nightmare the next night and Elijah is the first to her side that she is able to recognize. He explains to the team that it started after she saw the stranger in Texas, only she won’t talk about it. Even to Elijah. They all take turns sleeping on the floor of her room for the rest of the week to make her feel safe again.

She doesn’t have a nightmare after that, when one of her guys are close, she is okay, as okay as she can be. McG’s mom, Shelia McGuire is insistent that she thinks about why that stranger was the catalyst to her memory banks and helps her to work through it with animal therapy.

She goes on a trail ride with just Adam and they get a little lost in the woods and rain. One of their horses runs off and that makes McG send out a search party because he knows something is going on. They are fine and it gives them a chance to talk.

The exact thing, Jaz was trying to avoid. They are hiding in an old partial shelter, nestled together under the extra blanket that they found in one of their remaining saddle bags. Their lone horse is tied up under the shelter as well, a roan Dutch warm blood gelding named Keystone who was about as sassy as can be when it came to being saddled until he was told that he was going on a trail ride with Jaz. He became the gentlest horse when he heard a woman was riding him. McG teases Jaz about this since Keystone usually is fairly sexist and only lets women ride him when Mama McGuire is around as he was the horse that stole her heart almost literally when she bought him.

Its this night when they get back and are sitting by the campfire that Elijah decides to talk to his captain about his new best friend. He waits until McG takes Jaz to bed, telling her that she needs her beauty sleep on their last night in Montana after the day she had. Preach and his family have already gone to bed a couple hours ago because his daughters were so distraught that their daddy’s teammates were gone while on US soil. It took hours to calm them down.

It takes a lot of courage and none of it liquid for Elijah to talk to his CO about a girl, let alone a girl on there team they both love, in different ways. “I just want you to be careful. Jaz, she is just too special to not have in your life and on our team. I understand this might be stepping over a line but I don't care, Adam.” He tells his captain who sees how serious he is when he call his captain by his given name. “I just want you to promise me, if something happens to me. In this job we know the risks. If something happens to me, promise me you’ll be there for her. Both professionally and personally. She is a ninja that has snuck into all of our hearts, we just have to find a way to do the same so she will trust us. Good night Top.”

He doesn’t let Adam respond, he’s too stunned to say a thing anyway. They get ready the next day to say their goodbyes to Mama McGuire and the Carter’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wanted to add, mamished and mungry are a nod to a different show, Breakout Kings. Serinda Swan's character and acting in general is something I really enjoy watching especially in comparison to Natacha Karam and her character of Jaz. Mungry is basically man hungry and mamished is the extreme of that. If it doesn't make sense, Breakout Kings is on Hulu and I think there might be a clip on YouTube.  
> When it says grunty, just think Tim Allen.


	4. teasing about crushes until the boss lady jokes about it

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back on base then They get time off and go to DC. They hang out with Patricia and Noah. Adam realizes Patricia knows him a little too well. Way too well if she is cracking jokes about his crush.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think and if you think my idea is something you want to see in this story. I'm not sure I would name the character by name from the other show but I do want to add him in.

Chapter 4  
They make it back to the base with very little trouble. Their first couple months back are fairly routine, except for the usual bumps and bruises that come with being a special ops team that is the final option when it comes to the most dangerous threats the United States of America face on a daily basis. Oh, and the team sans Jaz teasing Adam about his crush on their sniper and the team sans Adam teasing Jaz about her crush on their Captain.

Its been one year since Jaz joined the team and the anniversary happens to also fall on a two week break that they go back to the states for. They have to stay in DC, but that is fine with them. They get to play tourist on their home soil and celebrate with Noah and Patricia as their tour guides.

They have fun but the one thing both Adam and Jaz want to do is have a movie night. Instead, they go out clubbing and bar hopping until Patricia, Noah and Preach are about ready to drop dead. 

Earlier in the day, Elijah surprised Jaz by telling her that some of his friends are in town and are going to spend the day with her. Before whisking her off for a spa day, with it turns out Patricia and one of her old boot camp buddies. They got spa treatments and went shopping for new dresses to wear that night, although both Jaz and her old boot camp buddy would also use them for undercover. While they are at the spa though, Patricia pulls Jaz aside for a moment to talk to her about something that has never been brought up that she is aware of and wants it addressed immediately. She tells Jaz that she can tell her anything or call on her for anything as she cares for Jaz and the rest of her team dearly. She asks if she is comfortable with the team and the things asked of her that in other units would not be. 

Jaz is surprised, and a little pissed that someone would imply something bad could happen on her team or that someone on her team would try and take advantage. Then she thinks about it, and gets even more mad. She thinks maybe one of her guys, she hasn’t thought of them as her guys before and she likes it, maybe talked to someone and it got back to Patricia. She relaxes when Patricia sees her face and reassures her its of her own volition that she is voicing her concerns. Jaz thanks her and tells her that she loves being on the team, they treat her equal and she credits it to Adam being such a great leader. Patricia smiles and reminds her to just be careful out there, its hard.

They have a lot of fun at the spa and take a break for lunch where Elijah joins in. They let him so that he can convince Jaz she needs something awesome for tonight, with Elijah saying she needs to dress to impress and making everyone giggle. They go to a couple different stores, Jaz finding a few different outfits her friends and Elijah approve of but its the last outfit that Patricia finds for her that she knows she will be wearing for a certain someone special.

They go for dinner as a team along with Patricia and Noah as they had planned. When someone, Jaz thinks its the combined evil genius of McG, Noah and Elijah, suggests going clubbing and dancing it causes Patricia to say that she’d love to but she and Jaz are both not dolled up enough. She drags Jaz up to Jaz’s hotel room where she had left her dress in spite of it being for tonight and had instead donned a simpler high waist a-line in a deep blue-plum color. Patricia tells her to change and helps her to zip up the beautiful new dress. Elijah comes up about half an hour after they had disappeared from the table and tells them he sent the boys ahead, mostly so Jaz could make a dramatic entrance.

It works maybe a little too well. The guys are sitting at a table on the far wall, each with a drink in hand and three on the table for the remaining part of their group. Conveniently, the only open seat after Patricia and Elijah sit is the one right next to Dalton, whose other side is the wall. He blanches when he sees her in the gorgeous red-plum color fit and flare dress, he has a deep appreciation for this color. Its a bit darker than her hair in the sunlight, the time when someone always sees Adam staring at Jaz. Its his favorite way to see the beautiful woman, with the sun rising or setting, hitting her hair and face making her look angelic and yet strong in the same moment. He always stares for a moment too long when she is standing with the sunset just behind her.

When she comes in, the sun has set but the club’s lights shine on her in the most beautiful way and he can no longer hear the music nor the crowd and only stops staring and acting a fool when Patricia makes a joke about him being speechless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy! I have had some extra time to write and upload and I'm getting a few too many inspiring ideas. It's very annoying. If I don't update on Saturday, its because my second essay for my writing class is due next week and I actually have to work on stuffs this weekend for my other class as well. Its also going to be hot all week so we will see how much I actually get done, I don't do well with the heat. I like the nice weather, for about five minutes because that's how long it takes me to become lobster red. I'm also really annoyed with some of my favorite shows right now.
> 
> Yeah lots of rambles, sorry.


	5. Evil genius plans that start with movie night for two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaz goes out with an old boot camp buddy that makes evil genius plans with McG and Elijah.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone has ideas to add into this story they are very welcome! Thank you for reading! I don't own this fandom, characters or for most part a lot of this story. It was inspired by many others as well as the actual writers of this show. If I did own it, I think it would end up a lot more like Grey's Anatomy, mostly drama and material for bad jokes. (one of my teacher's loves this show soo much!)

Chapter 5  
Its during the second week when they finally get their movie night. Her old boot camp buddy and her have lunch one day close to when they are going to head back and Jaz complains about wanting just one simple laid back night with her guys. She smiles as does her friend when she calls them her guys. They are in a cafe not far from the hotel they are both staying in. Her friend was here on official business as well with some of her colleagues. They are day drinking which might have been her second mistake, the first being allowing her friend to get to know McG. They are pretty buddy buddy and when she comes back from the restroom her friend has a guiltily evil genius look on her face that hadn’t been there before.

They enjoy their time together. They had gone shopping in the mid morning before their late lunch and Jaz is pretty happy with the items she has gotten. It has officially been a year since she joined the team, but none of her teammates have said a thing, not even at breakfast. She is feeling a little defeated when her friend asks what they are doing in celebration and she has to tell her that they don’t have any plans that she knows of. That is, until she gets back to her hotel room and finds a movie set up to be played and Dalton on the couch waiting for her. He’s dressed just like he does on base for movie nights, half naked and beautiful.  
She wonders where the rest of the team is and Adam only answers that Vallins and McG told him to meet them in Jaz’s room, and then totally flaked at the last minute, literally while he was explaining it to the team sniper. They haven’t heard from Preach in a couple of days as he is held up with his wife somewhere. She smiles and thinks her best friend had something to do with this before grabbing her comfy clothes set out on her bed for her to change into and settles into Dalton’s side for the movie.  
She isn’t sure what time it is when she wakes up, almost fully on top of Adam, laying on the couch with a blanket over them, her back to his front. She knows it must be early as its still dark outside the window she can see from her head’s position on Dalton’s chest. His face is buried in her hair and his arms are wound tightly around her waist, hands innocently enough nestled at her belly button. When she moves a little to reach for the remote, thinking the thing that woke her up was the TV screen, she realizes they aren’t alone in the room.  
She doesn’t scream, in fact her reaction is to grip tightly to Dalton’s arms. She knows this is the best way to slowly wake him up as he tends to react first, not unlike the rest of them.

Adam Dalton wakes with a start and adjusts his body so that she doesn’t fall off the couch and then realizes why she woke him up. Not, like he thought, to use the bathroom. He curses and sets them both up right before realizing he is still holding onto her fairly tightly. This launches the person that had woken Jaz up in a peel of laughter, making a yelping noise when Jaz is suddenly up and out of Adam’s arms so she can punch her best friend in the stomach.

Adam smiles to himself through the sleep fog that is still enveloping him. He thinks that this will teach the team to wake the little ninja up when she is snuggled up asleep, spoiler alert it doesn’t. He chastises the men standing a little way away from them for flaking as it isn’t very team-like. The woman standing with them smiles at Jaz, completely ignoring the men in the room as they talk about how good the prank was and what kind of payback she and the boys, because according to Jaz they were not any more mature than 6-10 year olds pulling braids on the playground but with less manners, were going to get in return. 

“Payback is a bigger uber-mess than any mean girl in any movie and in any school across the globe.” Jaz, not so much threatens but coolly and with a straight face promises. Let the games begin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally added a bit more. Sorry for the slow update.  
> If anyone has ideas to add into this story they are very welcome!  
> I just started summer term for my second year of college and have no homework to work on at the moment. My classes are fairly laid back this summer so I will probably have quite a bit of time to work on this once I know what to write. That is my thing though, waiting for inspiration is a waste. Sometimes its better to move on and then come back if something will fit in. I'm going to be posting some other stories soon, probably not this fandom though.


	6. The Start of Everything With a New Normal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The addition of Amir to the team is a hard pill to swallow for Jaz after the three tragic events she has faced but, having Dalton right there to support her is the spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down in the most delightful way!  
> Yes I know it is like the worst pun!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am going to add more to this eventually but I'm struggling with it a bit so I'm not pushing myself to stress over it. I'm also finishing up the first term of my second year of college so I've been busy this summer with school and work. We also just got a puppy, well he is 3 and a half months now so not just. He is a lot of work though. I will add more to this when I can and I thank you for reading and leaving kudos and comments! They do help.

Chapter 6  
The prank war that ensues puts movie night off for a while. No one is caring for another movie night when they have to keep their guard up in their home away from home. Jaz’s friend is on base with them, having come with her own team to be based out of Incirlik for the time being.

What’s that saying about bad things happening in three’s? It all seems to happen at once to this team. First Jaz’s friend gets hurt, then Adam’s friend and Patricia’s son gets killed and finally it strikes too close to home. Elijah. Jaz withdraws into herself, stays too quiet for the rest of the team while they deal with the tragic loss of one of their favorite people. They all are allowed to go home for a week for bereavement leave and to talk to grief counselors. It takes a toll on all of them, especially Jaz. Adam and McG both try really hard to get Jaz back to her bubbly, loving, bad ass ninja self.

Eventually they get a replacement for Elijah’s spot permanently rather than the floaters that come in from other teams for a little while before getting their own transfers finalized. His name is Amir Al-Raisani and Jaz hates him for being the permanent replacement on their team. She misses her friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thinking of cross posting this to FF.net so that more people can enjoy and mayne give me ideas.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is at the start of our beloved show. It will NOT follow the story line of the show all the way. Its going to show the background of the dynamics of like the "fade to black" in between stuff I guess. It will use some of the stuff from the show but only a little because its not mine and I'm not someone to take the credit of someone else's work. Our beloved show belongs to its creators and I'm not sure of the other owners but you know its not mine, I just love it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! I'm not dead just busy. I've kind of lost where this story is going. Chapter 6 was a very short chapter and 7 may be just as short or will be really really long to make up for it.   
> Also I'm in my 5th term of college and doing 2 research projects and i'm coming up on finals. I'm hoping after the 10th of December I will have more time for this but we will see!

Chapter 7

She wants Elijah back.

They do the usual team building but it isn’t the same. She misses her partner in crime. They start taking turns again with the chores and it gets ridiculous because it is a new normal but its so different that she doesn’t react well to someone new doing the laundry or God forbid touch her precious coffee.

The team (sans Amir) take turns telling her to chill, she will get used to it soon they are sure. She’s moody but not in a normal way which concerns their captain but McG from a medical standpoint and Preach from living in a house full of women both tell him he needs to chill just as much as Jaz does.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. If you comment, please be kind that's all I ask. Not for me but for the other people that read my story because no one wants to read rude things. I will take any constructive criticism just be aware I do read and review comments and I do love hearing from others.

**Author's Note:**

> Please remember to be kind. If there is something you would like to see in this, let me know in the comments. If you would like to help me write it, especially help with dialogue let me know in the comments. Feedback is welcome, as long as it is respectful.  
> Thank you for reading my 7 plus page fanfiction. It is still in the works. I may add more chapters or just add more to the end of this once it is written.  
> Some things are triggering for some that are quite normal for others, hopefully this does not offend or trigger anyone. If it does let me know what I can do to improve. I want to be respectful of everyone but it is impossible to make everyone happy with only one thing and that is why there is always room for improvement


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